Dr. April Naturale

Senior Technical Specialist

April Naturale has 25 years of experience as a health/mental health care administrator, specializing in response to traumatic events. After 9/11, Dr. Naturale returned to the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH) as the statewide director for Project Liberty—the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funded mental health response to the World Trade Center disaster and the largest crisis counseling assistance and training program awarded in the program's 30-year history.

Dr. Naturale has spent considerable time in the field assisting with operations and training, public communications, crisis counseling, and troubleshooting. She has also worked with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and others. In 2004, she helped launch SAMHSA’s National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and then spent two years working in each of the states affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Ike. She has worked with the Mental Health Association–New York City to launch the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Distress Helpline network and to oversee the 9/11 10th Anniversary Healing and Remembrance program.

Dr. Naturale is a licensed clinical social worker in four states and has a Master’s degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from New York University.